Lent day 8 - secret heroes

Its 100 years since some women got the vote.   And there has been a lot of publicity over recent days about those suffragettes and the lengths to which they went in order to bring their cause to public attention.   Some previously untold stories about ordinary women who did extraordinary things for the cause are coming to light.   We should have known about them before - but the very nature of their protest meant they were hidden behind the scenes.   Only alot of digging by historians has unearthed some of the facts.

There has been a news item running over the past few days about a man who has just been jailed for 32 years for running the largest paedophile operation ever uncovered on the internet.   For four long years the police and crime agencies across the world searched for this man who had numerous identities and knew how to hide himself on the dark web.   They first worked out that because of the times of day he was making posts online that he was probably in the UK.  That he was probably male and probably educated.  That narrowed it down to 32 million people.

For four years a team of people trawled through the depths of human depravity which is internet child abuse.  All the time narrowing down the field bit by bit.  And in the end they got their man.

As I was listening to the news yesterday I found myself silently thanking those poor souls who probably sacrificed their own mental health and spiritual well-being in order to protect children and vulnerable people from harm.   We have no idea what goes on behind the scenes in hidden places every day.   Someone in my family used to work in anti terrorism.  Of course nobody ever really knew what he did 9-5 - but occasionally he would let us know that terror plots were being foiled all the time due to diligent police work and the unsung heroes of detection and prevention.

Or how about the scientist I was listening to on the radio who has spent his life researching genetics? He is now able to identify a cancer gene which runs in families resulting in every member eventually getting colon cancer.  His research has led to the ability to not only spot who has the gene but work out how to treat it - thus saving entire families from the certainty of early death.   An unassuming hero.  There must be millions of people around the world doing jobs we know nothing about which are contributing to the peace and prosperity and safety and health of the planet.  And not necessarily people who are foiling international crime rings or discovering cures for cancer.    There are people removing fatbergs from our sewers and servicing passenger airlines to make sure they fly and doing all manner of behind the scenes things which make our lives run smoothly.

So today I'd like to pray a blessing on every person in the world who never gets thanked.  To those who work in secret to keep us safe.  The people who can't chat about their jobs after work and who are dealing with things from which most of us would run a mile.   God says that the good that is done in secret will eventually receive a reward.   I hope that many of those who work for good in secret will be in heaven.  I think I'd like to thank them myself.